OverwriteXR

Resources and content on everything XR

What is the Metaverse and Extended Reality (XR)?

The Metaverse is broadly understood as a network of interconnected virtual worlds and immersive technologies forming a 3D internet—a digital layer of life that can blend with or exist independently of the physical world. It’s sometimes described as “an internet you can walk around in.” XR (Extended Reality) is the umbrella term for the immersive technologies enabling this shift, including Augmented Reality (AR), Mixed Reality (MR), and Virtual Reality (VR).

  • AR overlays digital information onto the real world (e.g. Snapchat lenses, Pokemon Go).
  • MR allows digital elements to interact with real-world physics (e.g. Hololens apps).
  • VR immerses users in fully digital environments (e.g. VRChat, virtual concerts).

These technologies are joined by innovations in spatial audio, haptics, and other sensory inputs to form XR.

What is the Metaverse?

There is no single definition of the Metaverse. Some imagine a fully immersive world (like in Ready Player One), while others envision a more augmented, real-world-enhanced experience (like Niantic’s AR glasses overlaying live Yelp reviews on storefronts). Most agree it represents an “embodied internet” — one we experience through presence, not just observation.

Elements of the Metaverse already exist today: avatars in VRChat, spatial computing via Hololens, and persistent digital economies like Second Life. But a fully realized Metaverse — interoperable, seamless, and widely adopted — is still emerging.

Use cases already envisioned include:

  • Taking your Minecraft avatar and trading materials for a digital hat at a shop, then bringing it into a Star Wars world.
  • Using smart glasses to see AR arrows guiding your walk, or seeing live ratings hover beside storefronts.
  • Participating in MR dance lessons with holographic instructors or cooking with interactive, projected ingredient guides.

Like how “information superhighway” faded into “internet,” the word “Metaverse” may eventually become invisible.

Two Competing Models: Centralized vs. Decentralized Metaverses

There are two dominant visions for how the Metaverse might be structured. These models are often represented by two iconic science fiction references:

The Private Metaverse (Centralized Model) — The Ready Player One / Meta Approach

  • Control & Governance: One company owns and operates the platform. Users are subject to corporate terms of service.
  • Access & Identity: Accounts and avatars are created and stored by the company. No true user autonomy.
  • Economy: Items, avatars, currency, and land are monetized and controlled by the host company.
  • Experience: Curated and stable. Content is limited by what the company allows.
  • Advertising & Surveillance: Corporate incentives drive data harvesting, targeted ads, and paywalls.

Meta, formerly Facebook, follows this model. Their vision is a branded, immersive experience built around user data and product integration—a “walled garden” of XR. This mirrors the OASIS in Ready Player One, where a single corporation dictates rules and reaps the profits.

Risks:

  • Privacy erosion
  • Lack of user ownership
  • Limited creative freedom

The Public Metaverse (Decentralized Model) — The Snow Crash / Web3 Approach

  • Control & Governance: Built on blockchain and open protocols. Users participate in community governance (DAOs).
  • Access & Identity: Users control their identity and data through wallets and interoperable avatars.
  • Economy: NFTs and cryptocurrencies enable user-owned digital goods and peer-to-peer trade.
  • Experience: Open source, evolving worlds shaped by the community.
  • Transparency: Smart contracts enforce rules without middlemen.

This mirrors the vision in Snow Crash, where users build and control their own spaces. Platforms like Decentraland and Somnium Space are current examples, experimenting with open governance and decentralized architecture.

Risks:

  • Lower quality control
  • Vulnerabilities without central oversight
  • Governance disputes

The 3 D’s of a Web3 Metaverse (Public Model)

  1. Decentralization: Interoperability between virtual worlds through shared standards.
  2. Democratization: User communities vote on changes and policies.
  3. Diversity: Varied worlds and avatars reflect different cultures, art styles, and ideologies. A user’s avatar might even visually shift to match the style of each world—realistic at home, blocky in Minecraft.

The 3 P’s of a Private Metaverse (Corporate Model)

  1. Profit: Monetization at every level through ads, subscriptions, and paid content.
  2. Proprietary Control: Company-owned hardware, software, and ecosystems.
  3. Privacy Erosion: Deep surveillance of user behavior for data harvesting. Eye movement, gestures, and even emotional cues could be tracked and sold.

The Hybrid Future

Web3 likely won’t replace Web2 outright—it will wrap around it. While many Web3 developers envision a fully decentralized internet, most users still value convenience, polish, and accountability offered by centralized services. The more realistic trajectory is a Web3 layer that integrates into familiar Web2 platforms.

Interoperability is the missing piece today. Your Reddit points stay on Reddit. Your Facebook photos can’t be ported to Tumblr. But in a hybrid Metaverse, your blockchain wallet could act like a universal sign-in—carrying your assets, bio, and avatar across worlds. The same way Google sign-in works across platforms today, wallets could become your cross-platform passport in a future internet.

Realistically, the future Metaverse will likely be a hybrid of both models. Web3 ideals of decentralization and ownership may exist inside platforms that still offer the convenience, polish, and infrastructure of Web2 companies.

For example, your blockchain wallet could store your universal avatar and digital assets—usable on open-world platforms like Decentraland but also accessible in Meta’s Horizon.

Just as brands joined Twitter rather than building their own version, platforms often conform to emerging standards once user expectations shift. When websites wanted to be found, they followed search engine protocols. When social platforms took off, companies joined instead of building clones. Likewise, companies may adopt standards from blockchain and decentralized identity once user expectations shift.

From Web1 to Web3: A Repeating Pattern

Web3 is especially hard to define—forums and think pieces offer conflicting answers. Some describe it as the semantic web, others as the decentralized internet, and still others simply equate it with the Metaverse. The confusion mirrors past tech cycles: Apple’s Newton and Nintendo’s Virtual Boy both failed commercially, yet laid groundwork for the iPhone and modern VR. Web3 may similarly be in its awkward phase—misunderstood now, foundational later.

  • Web1: Open, static, decentralized (individuals coded their own websites)
  • Web2: Centralized, interactive (platforms like Facebook, YouTube dominate user interaction)
  • Web3: Vision of decentralization, user control, blockchain-based ownership

Yet each leap often brings re-centralization:

  • People moved from home servers to WordPress.
  • From self-managed wallets to Coinbase.

Even decentralized crypto exchanges have gone down due to centralized web services like Amazon AWS crashing.

Can decentralization survive if people keep choosing convenience?

Key Tools and Emerging Technologies

  • Render Network (RNDR): Decentralized GPU power for rendering complex environments.
  • RealityScan: Scan real-world objects into 3D assets.
  • Ultraleap: Tactile feedback for digital environments.
  • DALL-E, Sora, and Meta’s generative tools: Create art or 3D objects using text, voice, and gestures.
  • Blockchain Bridges (e.g. Wormhole): Cross-platform interoperability.
  • NFTs & Crypto Wallets: User-owned identity, property, and currency.
  • Automatic Retopology & 3D File Converters: Compression and conversion for scalable digital spaces.

Other Names for the Metaverse:

  • Spatial Web
  • XR Network
  • Immersive Internet
  • Virtual Worlds
  • Cyberspace

Social and Ethical Questions

Web2’s problems don’t disappear in Web3—they scale. Issues of moderation, bias, and influence will be amplified:

  • Free Speech vs Moderation: Who sets the rules—code, crowd, or corporation?
  • Advertising: Product placement inside immersive environments may manipulate mood or behavior.
  • Surveillance: Every motion in VR or AR becomes data. Eye tracking, posture, and hand movements can be mined and sold.
  • Manipulation: Bots could hijack your environment to steer behavior.
  • Governance: Should misinformation be flagged or banned? What about social nudging through design?

Decentralized platforms offer potential solutions:

  • Voting on rules
  • Fact-check overlays like YouTube’s warning banners
  • Publicly visible moderation protocols

The Metaverse is still forming. Its future depends on whether we follow the centralized, corporate model (Meta/OASIS) or pursue the decentralized, user-driven ideal (Snow Crash/Web3). Most likely, we will blend both—retaining the convenience of corporate infrastructure while layering in decentralized ownership and interoperability.

The true Metaverse won’t be one world, one brand, or one definition. It will be a spectrum of immersive experiences, shaped by technology, culture, and choice.